Railway car



@et 28, ma. J. M. HALL 2,260,898

RAILWAY CAR Filed May 29, 1939 Patented Oct. 2K8, 19941*v Joseph M. Hall, Chicago,

versal Railway Devices-Company,

of Delaware Ill., assignor to Uni` a corporation Application May 29, 1939, Serial No. 276,289 5 Claims. I(Cl. 105-283) This invention relates to railway cars and more particularly to the hinge mechanism and associated parts to be used on certain types of cars.

One of the principal objects of the invention is the provision of anew and improved hinge especially adapted for doors or closures for hopper cars, dump cars, or for gondola cars having doors in their bottom walls.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved forged hinge member for gondola cars and the like having the pintle bearing arms so constructed that they will be more or less resilient.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a hinge member so constructed that li it will resiliently support the hinged edge of the door in such manner that it will materially 4assist in preventing loosening, shearing and wear on the attaching means for the hinge members.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved method of fabricating hinge elements whereby the material may be forged and then bent or formed to the required shape or contour.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved hinge member that is simple in construction, efficient in use, inexfil) pensive to manufacture and that is so constructed n that the element will be slightly resilient and not likely to crystallize while in use.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the `following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a transverse vertical section of a car -f showing the invention in'position therein, parts broken away;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line with parts broken away;

Fig. A3 is a plan View ofthe forged blank from which the hinge member is fabricated or formed;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of one member of the hinge;

Fig. 5 is a front elevation thereof; and

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a modified form of hinge butt member.

In the construction of the conventional hinge for doors or closures for signed for dumping the load from the car, such, for instance, as the side or center dumping cars, hopper cars or gondola cars, having doors in their bottom walls through which the lading is discharged, the vibration of the car in its travel, due to flat wheels, rail joints, or irregularities in the roadbed, tend to cause the wear and shearing with 2 -2 of Fig. i,

of the bolts or rivets employed for securing the doors in position on the car. Furthermore, it is common practice to cast these hinge members and such vibration tends to crystallize and fracture the hinge butt member. p f

Under certain conditions with certaintypesof cars, as for instance, when the lading consists of loose material or material `in-bulk, or even in separate units, in flat bottom gondola cars provided with dumping doors in their bottom wall, it is not uncommon to unload the car with a steam shovel. Under these conditions, in manipulating the shovel bucket, it often pounds againstv ,the door thus placing sudden and extremely severe shocks on the hinge butt and if it be cast7 as in the conventional hinge, it may become broken or fractured. Again, in the loading of such cars with metal or metal structures with the aidof ,cranes and electromagnets, the impact of heavy articles when dropped on these doors in loading the car results in extremely high stresses on the doors and hinges therefor. The same isfalso true where the car is loaded by steamshovels. The dropping of the load into the car from the shovel often places severe local stresses on the `hinge member thereby causing breakage of the hinge butt member which is especially subjected to these shocks. v

The present invention seeks to remedy this diiculty by the provision of a new and improved hinge butt member that is forged and then bent to form so that the pintle supporting arms are slightly resilient. The resiliency is so slight that railway freight cars deit is not perceptible yet it is suflicient to protect the hingebutt and attaching rivets from the blows due to the vibration of the parts during travel or due to the impact of material in loading the same or to blows of the shovel buckets of the steam shovel in unloading. f I

Referring now to the drawing, the reference character I0 designates aflat bottom` gondola car having side sills II, one of which is shown in Fig. l, a built-up center sill I2, a side wall I3, transoms I4 and a center sill cover plate I5 which, with the side sills and transom cover plates may, for convenience of description, be regarded as the bottom wall or floor of the car which is provided with openings having the doors I or closures I'I therefor. Since the structure thus far described is of the usual construction, it is not thought necessary to further illustrate or describe the same.

The doors or closures I1 are each provided with the bars or frame members I9, Z-shaped in cross-section. The bars I9 have attached there or any well known to a top Wall or door panel 200 which may have corrugations 2| for reinforcing the same extending transversely of the car, if desired, The panel 230 is of sheet metal and has its inner edge bent down at 400 to form a flange for strengthening the panel and for sealing the joint between the panel and oor when the door is opened.

Attached to the center sill |2 is one of the hinge elements 22 of a hinge 23, the other element 24 of which is attached to the door or closure Il. The hinge element 22, hereinafter referred to as the hinge butt member, comprises a plate or body portion 25, Fig. 5, which is in the form of a plate member having an opening 28 therein for the reception of an' attaching rivet or bolt 380 for securing the plate to the web of the center sill l2. The upper end of the body portion 25 is offset outwardly from the center sill as shown at 21 to form an attaching plate section 28, see Figs. and 6. The body 25, including the offset plate section'v 28, is in the form of a triangle with the base uppermost. v

The offset attaching portion 28 is provided with a plurality of openings 29, 3| and 32 for the reception of attaching rivets 4D, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 5. The plate portion 28 is oifset so that it will engage the face of the depending flange of a reinforcing .angle bar 33 secured to and forming a part of the center sill I2, see Fig. 1. The rivets 48 pass through the vertical fiange of the angle 33 and through the web of the center sill |2. The plate 25 tapers toward its lower end, and, integral with the side edges of the plate 25, and extending inwardly and upwardly therefrom, are the pintle supporting ears or arms 34 and 35, Fig. 5. These arms are curved outwardly at their bases as at 340 and 350, respectively, to space the arms from the plate 25. The outer ends of these arms are parallelfto each other and spaced from the plate 25 and are provided with bosses 36 and 31 which have Aalined openings 38 and 39 for receiving the pintle 4| of the hinge. The upper edges of the arms curve outwardly and upwardly as at 60 and are spaced from the plate 25 to provide clearance for the flange 400, Fig. l. Extending between the upper edge of the arms 34 and 35 and the lower portion of the offset member 28 are short struts, ties or brace members 42 which rigidly unitethe arms with the plate 25.

The ties 42 are adapted to reinforce the upper edge of the pintle supporting arms and at the same time, not interfere with the resiliency of the lower portion thereof.

The other portion or element 24 of the hinge, hereinafter referred to as the hinge strap member, is channel-shaped at its intermediate portion in cross-section and has its web portion downturned at its en-ds, as shown at Fig. 2. The outer end 20 of the web portion 43 is rigidly attached to the adjacent Zbar |9 by suitable rivets, as clearly shown in Fig. l of the drawing, the outer end of this member being also offset downwardly to engage beneath the upperange of the bar I9. The inner end of this member is provided with an eye 30, Fig. 2, positioned between the bosses 3l and 38 and through which eye the pintle 4| extends. l

The latch mechanism 50 is provided for holding the free edge of the door in closed position and since it is of the conventional type, it is not thought to be necessary to describe the same in detail.

The parts are so arranged that the upper surface of the Z-bar |9 and an intermediate portion of the hinge strap member 24 are in the same horizontal plane. This intermediate portion of the web 43 is rigidly attached to the upper wall of the door or closure as by means of the rivet 46. The hinge butt member 22 is a forging and the method of manufacturing this member will now be described.

The hinge butt member is made of ordinary forging steel, or any other suitable material, and is forged first in the form of a plate or blank, as shown in Fig. 3, the lower plate section 25, the offset upper plate section 28 and the pintle supporting arms 34 and 35 which extend outwardly and curve upwardly in the plane of the lower plate section 25 as shown at 60 in this figure. After the plate section has been forged to form the upper portion 28 offset from the lower and with the arms 34 and 35 with the bosses 36 and 31 on the outer ends thereof, the arms 34 and 35 are bent, each along the line A-A and reverse bent along the line B-B to bring these arms to the position shown in Fig. 5 The bends along the lines A-A are broad bends so that the arms will be spaced from the plate portions 25 and 28 and in front of the same. The reverse bend along the lines B-B is just sufficient to bring the outer extremities of these arms in parallel relation to each other so that the aline pintle openings 38 and 39 may be drilled. When bent to their nal position, the upwardly curved outer ends of the arms 34 and 35 form a recess or clearance between the ends of these arms and the center sill for receiving the flange 400, as shown in Fig. 1.

Short studs or lugs 4l and 48 are formed on the upper edge of each arm between the lines A-A and B-B during the forging process. Co-

operating studs or lugs 49 and 5| are likewise formed on the offset plate member 28 while the piece is being forged so that when the arms are bent to position, the lugs 4'| and 49 will engage each other and be in alinement, and likewise, the lugs 48 and 5| will engage each other and be in alinement. The mating lugs are then welded ltogether to form the tie or brace members 42.

After the hinge butt is bent to shape during forging, the hinge pintle openings are drilled so that they will be in perfect alinement. The rivet holes may be drilled before or after the hinge butt member is bent to the desired shape. In practice, they are drilled after the bending operation. The form of the construction shown in Fig. 6 differs from that shown in Figs. 4 and 5 in that the strut or tie member 42 is dispensed with in the construction shown in Fig. 6. Where the struts or tie members are dispensed with, the bends at 35|] may, if desired, be forged thicker so that the arms at these points will be reinforced. Since the hinge, except for the tie member 42, is substantially the same as that shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the same reference characters are employed to represent corresponding parts.

It will thus be seen that the hinge butt member 22 is a forging and is provided with resilient arms for holding the pintle and consequently the member is not likely to break or become fractured due to heavy blows nor will it crystallize when subjected to car vibration of whatever nature. The curves 340'and 35|) will provide a certain amount of resilency whereby vibration of the car or impacts of the steam shovel buckets in unloading the car will be absorbed without damage to the hinge or associated parts.

It is thought from the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, that the construction and operation of my device will be apparent to those skilled in the art and that changes in size, shape, may be made without departing from the spirit `and scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a railway car having center and side sills, a oor, having a door opening therein, extendingbetween said sills, a door for said opening, the combination of a hinge for said door, said hinge comprising a forged member having a base plate rigidly connected to said center sill, arms of resilient material integral with said base plate and bent to position in front of the plate, the intermediate portion of said arms being on a curve, the ends of said arms being parallel and provided with alined apertures receiving a hinge pin, and a complementary hinge member rigidly secured to said door and hingedly to said pin.

2. In a railway car, a built-up center sill having a web portion and angle bars secured to its upper and lower edges, a side sill having an inwardly extending flange, a iioor for said car having an opening therethrough, a closure for said opening, said closure comprising Z-bars and a proportion and detailsA ing bent outwardly away from the plate, a hinge pintle extending horizontally through said arms and eye, and brace members between the upper edges of said arms and said attaching plate, the inner downturned edge of said panel extending downward between said arms and attaching plate when said closure is in closed position.

3. In a railway car having a center sill, a iioor for said car having an opening in said iioor and a door for said opening, the combination of a hinge for connecting the inner edge of said door to said center sill, said hinge comprising a forged member rigidly connected to said center sill and panel secured to said bars and having downf turned end edges, hinge members connecting said closure to said center sill, one of said hinge members being channel-shaped and having its outer end oset downwardly with the web portion extending along channel and nesting in the upper angle portion of the Z-bar and riveted thereto, the inner end portion being provided with an eye, the intermediate portion of said web being rigidly connected to the door panel, the other portion of said hinge being forged and comprising an attaching plate riveted to the web of4 the center sill, an oifset portion riveted to the vertical flange of the center sill angle bar, pintle supporting arms having their portions adjacent said plate bent back in front of said plate and having the bent back portions of said arms spaced from the plate section and the extreme outer ends of the arms bethe side and ends of the having resilient, curved hinge pintle supporting arms having their portions adjacent said plate bent back in front of said plate and having the bent back porti-ons of said arms spaced from the plate section and the extreme outer ends of said arms being bent outwardly away from said plate and having alined openings therethrough, the other member of said hinge being rigidly connected to said door and having an eye in alinement with said openings, and a hinge pintle extending through said eye and openings.

4. A hinge member comprising an attaching plate section and arms integral with the side edges of said plate section and having their portions adjacent said plate section bent back in front of said plate, said arms being spaced from said plate section, the outer ends of said arms being bent outwardly from said plate into parallelism but in spaced relation, said outer ends having alined hinge pintle openings. y

Y 5. In a railway car, a hinge for a door comprising a hinge member having a body portion with its side edges converging downwardly, arms integral with the converging edges of the body portion and bent back in front of said body portion in spaced relation to the-body portion, the outer ends of said arms being reversely bent to bring the same into parallel planes, the outer ends of said arms having alined pintle openings, and stud brace members between the upper edges of said arms and said body portion.

JOSEPH M. HALL. 

